Sofia Coppola has tainted view of Hollywood

Director Sofia Coppola has had an up-and-down career at the box office, much like her often-praised, often-vilified director dad, Francis Ford Coppola.

Ed Symkus

Director Sofia Coppola has had an up-and-down career at the box office, much like her often-praised, often-vilified director dad, Francis Ford Coppola.

She’s only made four features, but here’s the track record: “The Virgin Suicides” lost money, “Lost in Translation” was a runaway hit, “Marie Antoinette” was a bomb. The fourth, “Somewhere,” opens Dec. 22 with a tiny budget, a talented B-list cast and a true homegrown atmosphere.

The film doesn’t get too involved in plotting. It’s a mood piece, a peek into the life of Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), a popular movie actor who’s not too proud of his work, but hey, it pays the bills. He’d rather spend his time sitting around doing nothing, or maybe drinking and popping painkillers while being entertained by twin pole dancers in his room at the exclusive Chateau Marmont in L.A. Things get a bit involved when he starts spending time with the daughter (Elle Fanning) he never really got to know.

The rather negative view of Hollywood came to Coppola when she was residing in Europe.

“I was living in Paris, and feeling far from California and America and pop culture. I was a little homesick and was thinking about L.A,” she said.

She admits to basing her protagonist on people she knows, people she met, and stories she’d heard about denizens of the Chateau Marmont.

She had a hunch that Dorff was the right guy to play this lost soul. Dorff had starred over the years in such films as “Backbeat,” “I Shot Andy Warhol,” “Blade” and “World Trade Center.” He also had a reputation for living on the wild side.

“He came to mind when I was writing the script,” she said. “You know, this kind of Hollywood bad-boy actor. I’d known him a little over the years, and I thought it would be interesting to see him show this more sensitive side.” The film turns out being, to some degree, about the contrasts and similarities between a perky young girl and her jaded movie star dad.

“I tried to keep the show business aspect in the background,” said Coppola. “It’s more of people trying to better themselves, and a look at the father-daughter relationship.”

Coppola probably could have based much of the film on her own experiences, having grown up on movie sets with her father.

“My experience was very different than in the movie,” she said. “But I was familiar with sometimes being a kid being brought to worlds that kids weren’t usually around. It was always exciting to go there with my dad. So I tried to put some kid memories into that character.” Coppola, 39, also has been on the other side of the camera, playing bit parts in many of her dad’s films, as well as a good-sized role in “The Godfather: Part III” and the part of Saché in “The Phantom Menace.” But she has no further acting plans right now.

“I don’t enjoy acting,” she said. “I just did those to try it. I prefer expressing myself through visuals.”

On top of that, she also enjoys collaborating with her actors, always listening to their ideas.

“I have a clear idea of what I think my movies should look like,” she said. “But I work with the actors to know what feels best for them. I always try to be open because things happen, and you can’t plan everything out. I don’t storyboard things. I try to approach it the way you do a photo shoot, where you get all the elements together and then see what works best when you’re there.”

One of Coppola’s favorite things about “Somewhere” was its contrast with her previous film, the big-budgeted “Marie Antoinette.”

“I really enjoyed working with my small crew this time,” she said. “‘Marie Antoinette’ was such a huge production, it was exhausting. I was exhilarated to be shooting in those locations with those costumes, but it really made me enjoy working with the small team. . . . I like working in that intimate way, but I still want to stay open to doing different things.

“I want to get back to writing after this film,” she added. “I’ll take a little break and then see what I’m interested in.”

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